This unfinished Requiem (D433) is for chorus and 6 mixed voices and orchestra (2 violins, alti, cello, bass, 2 horns, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 cors) composed in 1816. Excerpts of this score only include the "Introit" of the requiem mass and the 2 first bars of the "Kyrie". The "Introit" processing song to accompany the entrance of the clergy is made up of the antiphon requiem aeternam followed by a verse of psalm 64.

In 1818 Franz wrote a German Requiem (D621 ) to help out his brother Ferdinand, to whom these works were assigned. As from 1810, Ferdinand taught at the Vienna Orphanage and composed pieces of religious music.
The 24th August 1818, Franz wrote to his brother: "My dear Ferdinand, it is 11.30 pm and I have finished your requiem mass. Believe me, it filled me with sorrow, as I sang it with all my soul. Arrange it as necessary, that is to say, insert the texts and signs."
The 29th October, after the performance, Franz sent another letter to his brother: "Dear brother Ferdinand, I already forgave you the sin of assigning my works to your name in my first letter. May no one ever hear anything about it."
The German text is by Franz Seraphicus Schmid. The Requiem - for chorus at 4 mixed voices and organ- is made up of 10 parts each corresponding to the different parts of the service:
1. Zum Eingang
2. Nach der Epistel
3. Zum Evangelium
4. Zum Offertorium
5. Zum Sanctus
6. Zur Wandlung
7. Zum Memento
8. Zum Agnus Dei
9. Zur Communion
10. Am ende der Messe
The organ is mainly used to double the singers apart from during the memento where the organ is to play unaccompanied.

Author:

Pierre Bousseau

Non-liturgical but related to the requiem mass are the numerous so-called 'German Requiems' and other compositions bearing in some form the title 'Requiem'. Composers such as Schütz, Praetorius, Thomas Selle, Michael Haydn, Schubert, J.I. Müller, C. Bütner, J.F. Fasch and Brahms contributed to this category. These 'German Requiems' may derive their texts from the Lutheran Bible, as Brahms's did, of from a variety of Protestant liturgical sources and ceremonies.